


just in time

by penguinsmile



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, M/M, University Student Sawamura Daichi, University Student Sugawara Koushi, daichi centric, daichi is an exercise science major student, manga spoilers mention, mentioned Kenma, mentioned kuroken, mentions of Karasuno Volleyball Club - Freeform, stressed out with school work daichi, sugawara to the rescue, university in tokyo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27305335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penguinsmile/pseuds/penguinsmile
Summary: "But Dai…” Sugawara trails off as he continues to stroke at Daichi’s hair, his eyes softening at Daichi’s red nose and cheeks, “Let me worry about you too, okay?”Only two months of university has passed, but Daichi's already drowning in work. When he starts to spiral down deep into self-doubt, Sugawara finds Daichi and reminds him that he's not alone.
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	just in time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [literally_jams](https://archiveofourown.org/users/literally_jams/gifts).



> happy birthday vania! i hope you enjoy this very self-indulgent piece of a stressed daichi.

A jingling of keys rings through the apartment as a hand grasps the doorknob of the front door. The figure stops in his steps and turns to face his roommate.

“Don’t stay up too late, Sawamura,” Kuroo states, his eyebrows scrunch up together in concern as he watches Daichi at his desk. Daichi turns his head from the abundance of books and papers sitting in front of him, open to various pages depicting similar images of human muscles found in the leg. 

“I won’t even bother responding to that properly,” Daichi mutters under his breath as he places a small piece of paper on top of the textbook in front of him. He carefully presses the thin paper over a large diagram displaying the lower leg and begins to trace the gastrocnemius muscle. Just as Daichi begins to shade in the muscle, he jumps in his seat when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m serious.” Kuroo squeezes Daichi’s shoulder, easing the built up tension he feels piling together across his joints. Daichi lets his shoulders drop from the contact, he turns to Kuroo again and gives him one of his classic, easy smiles. 

“I know, I know. I won’t stay up too late, I’ll make sure to take breaks, and I’ll drink water,” Daichi chuckles, “I’ve heard this enough times to have it drilled in my brain, Tetsurou.” 

Its so easy for Daichi’s eyes to curve up into moons from smiling, so easy to reassure Kuroo, and so easy to practice the smile he has ingrained into his muscle memory. So when Kuroo sighs and shakes his head with a small smile, Daichi feels a mix of relief and a twinge of disappointment run through his pounding thoughts. 

“Then actually follow by it this time, muscle head,” Kuroo tells Daichi as he removes his hand from the latter’s shoulder. Daichi nods his head, ensuring he’d do his best to keep his promise. ‘ _My best’,_ Daichi repeats to himself mentally.

After Kuroo departs the small apartment and shuts the front door behind him, Daichi leans back into his chair and faces the workplace in front of him. To his left, stands a stack of three textbooks of varying, but overwhelming thickness (apparently there are endless facts and tips to nutrition, this isn’t even all of it). To his right, Daichi has organized two months worth of papers, quizzes, and notes, all color-coded, tagged with post-its, and highlighted, of all his lectures and office-hour runs. These notes were his pride and joy, but with the papers and notebooks all grouped in one pile, Daichi admits to himself that the sight makes him want to turn from his desk and head to his warm, soft bed to ignore the blaring red signals his growing work pile was sending. 

Except Daichi isn’t a quitter. He’s persevered through dozens of exams where the words don’t settle in quite right, worked through long papers he has absolutely no interest in, and has years of failed attempts of making it to national volleyball competitions until he finally made it in the second half of his final high school year. Daichi has always had to fight his way to his goals and has only exceeded his own expectations at this point. If there’s one thing that Daichi has ingrained within himself, it's that he can make the impossible seem possible.

So Daichi directly faces the center of his desk, textbooks open to various anatomy pages and the thin piece of paper he was using to trace over a muscle before Kuroo interrupted him. His laptop was furthest from him, leaning against the wall and waiting for Daichi to search up terms he was unfamiliar with. He reaches for the Monster drink he’s placed underneath his desk (he has to hide it from Kuroo) and takes a quick swig, the carbonated beverage burning through his body. He heaves a breath and stares intently at his work load.

Finally, Daichi takes picks up his pencil and begins to work.

After tracing and shading in the muscles of the lower leg, Daichi grabs a pink pen to begin labeling different regions. He double-checks his textbook, reaffirms that he wrote the right word, and continues onto labeling the next muscle. At some point, Daichi mistakes the adductur magnus with the vastus medialis and quickly grabs for his white out, rubbing at the words with white ink. 

He works his way downward, so when Daichi finishes labeling the bones of the feet, he puts his pen down and takes a look at the diagram he’s drawn. 

‘ _It’s not too bad, but…’_ Daichi’s eyes trail across the streaky white marks over the adductur magnus, the mistake he made blaring against him. Daichi sighs, ‘ _c’mon Sawamura, move on to the chest, this isn’t a big deal._ ’

Daichi reaches for his Anatomy notebook and opens to a blank page. After taping in the diagram for his notes, he closes the book and glances at his checklist. He still has to draw and label the muscles of not only the chest, but arms as well. Afterwards, he needs to move onto reviewing and rewriting his Physiology class notes for an upcoming quiz, and then work on his Biomechanics paper due in two days. 

After turning to all the pages needed to analyze and draw the muscles located in the chest, Daichi begins the same process all over again. Trace, shade, label. He moves onto the arms, trace, shade, label. 

By the time Daichi turns to glance at the clock: it’s two o’clock, meaning way past midnight. He glances back at his checklist: he still has Physiology and Biomechanics work to finish. A heavy sigh leaves Daichi’s mouth, the effects of his Red Bull can beginning to wear off. After drinking the last few drops of his energy drink, he tosses the can into the trash can and opens up the syllabus to his Physiology class on his laptop. His class was on the fundamentals of the nervous system and muscle tissue, also known as Daichi’s least favorite topic for the growing vocabulary this lesson has to offer. 

After opening up his Physiology notebook and textbook, Daichi keeps a search engine open on his laptop, ready to search up any new terms. 

It has only been two months since Daichi has started university in Tokyo. After making the move from Miyagi, Daichi quickly learns that the Tokyo volleyball camps he attended in his final year of high school were not enough to prepare him for living in the big city for the next few months until his next break. 

Adapting to the new environment was hard enough, but Daichi had moved to the city for university. So when he learns that his professors give no mercy when it comes to work load and droning lectures, Daichi finds himself contacting his family back in Miyagi less and less. The Karasuno Volleyball Club still spams him with texts, especially newly assigned vice-captain Tanaka who has always been eager to update the former captain with the club’s antics. Occasionally, Ennoshita would call Daichi for advice as to how to work the new first years when his own work would fail.

And of course, there was Sugawara, his boyfriend. 

Daichi still remembers how after confessing his feelings to Sugawara after the Spring High Tournament, the latter wrapped his arms around Daichi’s neck and laughed freely, _finally._

If there is one person his mind turns to during those boring, tedious lectures where the professor begins to ramble, it was Sugawara. Even if Sugawara would scold him for texting during his classes, he never minds and texts back with as much enthusiasm to energize Daichi for the rest of the day. 

Sugawara also attends university on Tokyo, but at one a few miles away from Daichi’s. With school work building for the pair, their visits to each others apartments grew less frequent, so they relied on Facetime. However, their scheduled calls on Saturday nights grew shorter and shorter with Daichi usually falling asleep on call. When he wakes up, he automatically calls his boyfriend, dozens of apologies on the tip of his tongue as Sugawara shakes them off and tells Daichi that its fine, and the view of Daichi sleeping like a log is more than enough. 

So when the weekend comes to an end, Daichi repeats the same cycle all over again. He attends his lectures, takes notes on what he can, purchases either a can of coffee, and makes his way to his small and shared apartment off campus. Despite Kuroo’s concerns, Daichi continues to indulge himself with caffeine, but he has lessened his intake from two cans to one two weeks ago as a result. 

It’s Friday now, meaning he still has one more day of classes to finish before he officially reaches the weekend. But in order to reach that point in his day, Daichi needs to finish up his work before he’s assigned anything else and the overbearing weight on his shoulders buries him into the ground. So Daichi stands strong, well, as strong as he can, and tackles his chapter on cranial nerves and spinial nerves. 

Daichi stares down at his textbook, somehow halfway through the chapter when he’s sure he’s only retained about a third of what he’s read. As Daichi turns back a page to reread a certain paragraph, he begins to squint at the words, unsure of what he’s just read. 

“ _These plexuses are described as arising from spinal…_ ” Daichi’s eyes blurs for a moment, but he squints harder, “ _to certain systemic nerves... contain fibers… sensory functions or fibers that serve motor functions._ ” 

Daichi works backwards to the previous paragraph, the information on the page not settling in at all. He bites his lips from frustration and places the tips of his fingers to his temple. _Everything is so blurry, nothing is sinking in._ He places a finger under the lines of the paragraph to guide his eyes.

“ _The axons of motor neurons of the anterior horn of the spinal cord… send action potentials to cause… radial nerve contains fibers of cutaneous-_ ” Daichi jumps as he feels weight against his shoulder, and almost falls out of his chair when he looks up to see a head of silver hair turned to him. 

“Su-Suga?” Daichi whispers raspily, momentary shock settles in as Daichi drops his pen to the desk. Sugawara pulls away from Daichi for a moment, Daichi already missing the warmth of the former’s hands on his shoulder. Sugawara grabs for the chair by Kuroo’s desk and settles it beside Daichi. 

“When did you-” 

“Just now, Dai.” Sugawara reaches into his pocket and takes out a handkercheif. Daichi holds a breath as Sugawara reaches for Daichi’s wet cheeks and begins to wipe at the tears stationed under his eyes. _‘When did I start crying?’_ Daichi asks himself, but quickly pushes the thought away as Sugawara’s eyes land on his. 

“Kuroo called me about an hour ago,” Sugawara explains, “He said he was visiting Kenma for a dinner and then something about you overworking yourself and I knew what he might have been talking about, so I’m here now.” 

Daichi gazes at Sugawara in awe, who was drenched wet from the rainy Spring weather. Sugawara was only in a thin sweater and jacket and still in sweatpants. 

“Suga, it’s past midnight, you…” Daichi trails off, his words stuck in his throat. Sugawara smiles, and places his arm on Daichi’s shoulder and begins to stroke the bottom strands of Daichi’s hair. Daichi’s pounding heart from earlier begins to calm, and the pressing weight against his thoughts lighten from the genuine gaze on his boyfriend’s face. 

“I ran to the subway and came here, yeah.” Sugawara finishes for Daichi. 

“But you’re drenched in rain, what if you catch a cold?” Daichi’s eyes soften as he stares at the darker-than-usual head of hair on Sugawara. Sugawara frowns, eyes narrowing on Daichi. 

“I won’t, I’ll dry up, I promise. But Dai…” Sugawara trails off as he continues to stroke at Daichi’s hair, his eyes softening at Daichi’s red nose and cheeks, “Let me worry about you too, okay?” 

Once again, Daichi feels his words caught in his throat. From the sincere look in Sugawara’s eyes to the effect Sugawara has had on his calming heart and to the weight he’s taken off his shoulders from only stroking his hair, Daichi can only look away as tears well up in his eyes again. 

“Dai, is it okay if I hug you?” Sugawara asks. Daichi nods, his eyes shut tight as he feels Sugawara wrap his arms around his back. Sugawara leans closer to him and tightens his hold after Daichi lowers his head onto the crook between Sugawara’s shoulder and neck. 

“You’re been working so hard, Dai.” Sugawara mumbles against Daichi’s hold. Daichi can only nod as Sugawara continues, “It’s not you, it’s the school. No one should be driven to the point to staying up to unforgivable hours of every night. But still, you’ve worked so hard when all the odds are against you.” 

“What if I don’t do well, Suga? What if Tokyo is too much for me and I fail all my classes- I’m already doing so bad at physiology Suga, I don’t think I can-” Sugawara tightens his hold on Daichi again before slightly pulling away from the latter to meet Daichi’s eyes.

“Have you tried talking to your professors? Your Physiology professor?” Sugawara asks, his eyebrows knitting together in concern. Daichi shakes his head no and sighs. 

“I should, right?” Daichi mumbles against Sugawara’s shoulder. Sugawara runs his hands through Daichi’s hair, playing with the ends. 

“I think it’ll help,” Sugawara replies, “If not, you should talk to the Academic Administration of your school to make your professor help you, professors who don’t are such scumbugs honestly, so you would need to talk to the administration who’s in charge of-” Sugawara stops talking as he feels Daichi shake against him. Daichi looks up at Sugawara, his lips curled into a smile.

“Hey, why are you laughing?!” Sugawara’s asks, startled. 

After his body comes to a calm, Daichi puts a hand to Sugawara’s cheek and leans in to press a kiss to his nose. 

“You’re going to be one real fun teacher some day, Suga.” Daichi says with a chuckle; he finds it cute as to how Sugawara pretends to be angry, but can only smile with exasperation. 

“And I’m sure you’ll be a great physical trainer some day, too, but you need to talk to your teachers- or Academic Administration if it comes to it!” Sugawara adds as he attempts to scold Daichi. 

“I will, I will.” Daichi confirms to Sugawara. Sugawara grins at this response and wraps his arms around Daichi’s neck again. 

“Good.” Sugawara sighs against Daichi. Daichi smiles to himself as he puts a hand on his boyfriend’s back, relieved at how natural this all feels to him.

After Sugawara lets Daichi go, he tells Daichi he’s going to go to the bathroom to grab a towel. Daichi nods and watches as his boyfriend saunters out of the room. By the time Sugawara returns with a towel in hand and a glass of water, Daichi has already cleaned up his desk area and has tucked his papers and notebooks into his school bag. 

Sugawara hands Daichi the cup of water and moves to rub the towel against his hair. After Daichi carefully drinks the water, he reaches for Sugawara’s hands places his hands on top. They meet eye contact, Sugawara confused for a moment. 

Sugawara lets his arms drop against his sides as Daichi carefully dries his boyfriend’s hair. Silence envelopes the room, but their attentions are completely on the other.

“Thank you for coming here, Suga. I… I really needed this.” Daichi tells his boyfriend. Sugawara smiles as Daichi removes the towel from Sugawara’s freshly dried hair. His hair is sticking out in the oddest of places and messy against his head, but Daichi swears he’s never seen anything more endearing and is only proven wrong when Sugawara’s lips quirks into a smile.

“I’m glad I came on time then.” 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading this!! i really really appreciate it and vania, i hope you were able to enjoy this as well as i did writing it. have a great birthday!
> 
> by the way, its not mentioned but sugawara knows the passcode to daichi and kuroo's apartment. that's how he was able to enter.
> 
> also! the textbook text i used was from this link: https://open.oregonstate.education/aandp/chapter/13-3-spinal-and-cranial-nerves/
> 
> twitter: [sunbeamshou](https://twitter.com/sunbeamshou)


End file.
